It´s maddening when government organizations which are supposed to
protect the public against terrorism and crime trade logic and
proficiency for appeasement and political correctness. Think TSA
officials searching a 95-year-old woman. Unfortunately, Israeli
officials seem to have taken a page out of the TSA handbook on how to
humiliate the country´s own citizens while placating its enemy.

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Muslim clerics in Israel are notorious for crying "wolf"
(i.e., "Jew"), causing the Israeli police to spring into action. For
example, whenever a Jewish holiday approaches, Islamic clerics work
their followers into a frenzy over the possibility of Jews visiting
the Temple Mount. Recently, before Jerusalem Day, the day that marks
the reunification of Jerusalem and the liberation of the Temple
Mount, a leading Muslim cleric, Sheikh Yousef Ideis, made such
claims. He warned Arabs to "be alert for possible infiltration of
fanatic Jews" on the Temple Mount. Instead of ignoring the obviously
staged incitement, the Israeli police validated the cleric´s claims.

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According to the Israeli police, "fanatical" Jews did infiltrate the
Temple Mount on Jerusalem Day. Rabbi Yisrael Ariel was one
such "fanatical" Jew. His actions were so fanatical that he has been
barred indefinitely from ascending the Temple Mount and is under
criminal investigation by the Israeli police.

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Rabbi Ariel, who is 78, has been a fanatic for a very long time. His
fanaticism started when he joined the IDF and fought in the 1967 Six-
Day War. He was one of the famed Israeli paratroopers who took part
in the liberation of Jerusalem. He was at the Temple Mount when Lt.
Gen. Mordechai Gur famously declared, "The Temple Mount is in our
hands." What elation Rabbi Ariel must have felt that day. The
elation was mixed with grief, though, as 180 of his fellow comrades
fell that fateful day.

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As you can imagine, visiting the Temple Mount on any occasion is
special for Rabbi Ariel, founder of the Temple Institute in
Jerusalem, but especially on Jerusalem Day. Marking the 45th
anniversary of the liberation of the Temple Mount, Rabbi Ariel, along
with other Jews, including Knesset members, visited the Mount.
Surprisingly, uninhibited by both the Islamic Waqf officials and
Israeli police, the group took advantage of being left alone and sang
and prayed. The special moment was captured on video, and Rabbi
Ariel can be heard saying, "I have waited forty-five years to be able
to say the Shehechianu (literally, "He who has kept us alive") here
on the Temple Mount." He then said a memorial prayer for his fallen
comrades.

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After Jerusalem Day, Rabbi Ariel tried to ascend the Temple Mount
again, but to his surprise, he was prohibited from doing so by the
Israeli police. He was informed that he was barred indefinitely from
the Mount and that he was under criminal investigation for
actions "that were not in compliance with the law." Which raises the
question: which law? Sharia law?

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The lauded democratic law in Israel assures the freedom of all
religions at holy sites. How pathetic that the Israeli police and
government would set aside their own laws, logic, and decency to
capitulate to the demands of Muslims.

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Who would have thought that Jews, of all people, would be criminally
investigated for praying on the Temple Mount? But due to "delicate
status quo agreements" (which translates into the asinine belief that
appeasing Muslims will somehow lead to peace), Jewish worshipers are
sometimes allowed to visit the Temple Mount during certain hours but
are not allowed to openly pray.

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Rabbi Ariel is not the first Jew to be under investigation for
disrupting the "delicate status quo." Another fanatical Jew recently
visited the Temple Mount. Yosef Hacohen, age 76, felt ill while
touring the Temple Mount, so he needed some water. Before drinking
the water, he said a blessing. Hacohen´s actions made members of
the "peaceful and tolerant" religion of Islam angry. So, naturally,
what did the Israeli police do? They arrested Hacohen.

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The Israeli police have even stopped Knesset members from praying on
the Mount. MKs Michael Ben Ari and Uri Ariel also joined a
pilgrimage to the Temple Mount to commemorate Jerusalem Day. While
on the Mount, Ben Ari and a number of the other members of the group
started praying. Police immediately asked Ben Ari to stop. After a
number of the group refused to stop praying, they were arrested.
Itamar Ben Gvir, spokesman for Ben Ari, accused the police of "doing
the work of the Waqf."

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In recent years, Israeli police have also threatened activists for
merely raising awareness of the need for religious freedom on the
Mount. Rabbi Chaim Richman, Director of the International Department
of the Temple Institute, who has a radio show on Israel National
Radio, encouraged his listeners to write, call, or fax the Israeli
government and request religious freedom for all on the Temple Mount.

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Rabbi Richman´s efforts got the attention of many people, including
an officer from the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv. The Temple Institute
was established in 1987. No U.S. government official has ever
expressed interest in their work. But suddenly, after Rabbi Richman
publically decried the fact that Jews were not allowed religious
freedom on the Temple Mount, an official from the U.S. Embassy
couldn´t wait to talk to Rabbi Richman about the "work of the
institute."

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After Rabbi Richman was visited by the embassy official, he was also
visited at night at his house by Israel´s National Security Agency,
known as the ISA, or Shin-Bet. During the "visit," Rabbi Richman was
told to desist from all his efforts to influence the public or the
government into taking action on issues regarding the Temple Mount.
His actions, he was told, were "damaging the relationship with the
United States, placing a stumbling block in the path of the peace
process, and inciting Arabs to violence." He was then threatened
with being arrested.

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Sadly, the treatment of the esteemed Rabbi Ariel, along with other
Jews, is an indicator that Israeli officials still believe that
appeasement is a viable way of dealing with one´s enemy, while
throwing their own law-abiding citizens under the bus. As Rabbi
Richman said, "[i]t is unconscionable that Rabbi Ariel, who served
with the paratroopers that liberated the Temple Mount in the 1967 Six
Day War, risking his life and burying his comrades for the sake of
the Jewish sovereignty of the Temple Mount, should be served with an
order distancing him from the Temple Mount indefinitely. His ´crime´
was giving thanks to God, in that very spot for the return of the
site to the Jewish people. Has it indeed returned to the Jewish
people? Is the Temple Mount ´in our hands´? Every day that this
situation is allowed to continue is a step backwards for the State of
Israel."

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Thankfully, both secular and religious members of the public are
speaking out against the recent actions of Israeli officials against
their fellow Jews. A demonstration was organized in Israel on July
18, outside the prime minister´s residence, in support of Rabbi
Ariel. Also, it should be noted that some members of the Israeli
government are publicly coming to the defense of religious freedom
for Jews on the Temple Mount. MKs Uri Ariel, Aryeh Eldad, Danny
Danon, Tzipi Hotovely, and Moshe Feiglin are among those who have
been the most vocal regarding the recent actions of the police.
Hopefully, their voice of reason will be heard and acted upon.